Ela Queria Riquezas

Having seen Henry Fonda in many of his serious films like 12 Angry Men and Grapes of Wrath, it was quite surprising to see how funny he can in Rings on Her Fingers. He has a nice chemistry with his co-star Gene Tierney as the girl that falls for him. She's involved with a gang of con-artists but can't resist accountant Fonda's sweet natured charm. The plot gets out of hand when Tierney wants to return the stolen money to Fonda. Spring Byington, as Tierney's "mother" is always a pleasant addition to any movie. Playing one of the con-artists, her acting is a little tougher than the usual flighty dowager we've seen her portray before. There are some good laughs along the way especially the chase scene at the airport terminal.It you want to see Henry Fonda in one of his rare comedies this movie is hard to beat.

I have not seen Henry Fonda in very many forgettable performances but Henry Fonda's performance in Rings on Her Fingers, is one of his clunkers. The film stars the beautiful Gene Tierney who is a wholesome hard working girl named Susan Miller (alias Linda Worthington) selling girdles, until two scammers wave a bunch of greenbacks in her face to join them in suckering foolish and gullible men out of their hard earned money. One of the men these three (3) con artists decide to con is a wealthy young man named John Wheeler played by Henry Fonda.

The latter half of the film kind of reminded me of the many confusing and chaotic comedies that Abbott and Costello had so much success in making films in the same era of the 1940's decade. I guess I have a bit of a hard time appreciating Henry Fonda playing the sap who falls in love with his con artist girlfriend. When Gene Tierney whose alias is Linda Worthington is being chased by a private detective in the airport and the two men who both want to marry her are also present, Linda must stay on her toes to keep the two men apart from each other while either one is in her presence.

I just felt that this film could not decide if it wanted to be a crime film, or a comedy, romance or a drama? In the end it does not matter as it really is a forgettable film other than seeing the beautiful Gene Tierney in a bathing suit squirming around on a blanket trying to get Henry Fonda's attention.

I give it a 6 out of 10 rating

In 1941, a year after Fonda made "Grapes of Wrath" for Twentieth Century Fox', the studio loaned him out to Paramount Pictures for Preston Sturges' hugely successful "Lady Eve." That film gave Fonda a rare chance to play comedy, and he is particularly believable and appealing as the naive millionaire. Fox's head of production, Daryl Zanuck, saw the tremendous box-office potential in casting his dramatic star in similar roles, and a year later produced this pleasant ripoff of Sturges' premise: what would happen if a con-artist (in "Eve" Stanwyck, in this film Gene Tierney) fell for the man she'd conned. Tierney is as always very lovely and considerably less wooden than normal in the part of the reformed crook, but it is Fonda with his All-American Boy good looks who steals the show. Rouben Mamoulian, usually not associated with this sort of fluff, does an excellent job of directing.

Here's a light and frothy comedy with Henry Fonda repeating his "The Lady Eve" role as the rube being taken for his money by travelling confidence tricksters Laird Cregar and Spring Byington, plus their newly recruited honey-trapper Gene Tierney, fresh from the girdle section of a New York department store, lured by the exciting and seemingly glamorous life of wealth distribution, the dainty way Cregar describes the team's modus operandi of parting the rich from their money.

The catch here is that Fonda this time isn't filthy rich at all, the boat-buying con he falls for relieves him of his hard-earned, mathematically calculated, life savings leaving him penniless, although his consolation is that he and his temptress Tierney fall hard for each other so much so that she surreptitiously tries to put things right for him. Naturally there's a reckoning to be had, which fortuitously comes about when Cregar & co. and their victim coincidentally end up under the same roof, to wit Fonda's millionaire bachelor buddy's place, who himself is set to be the next target for the travelling tricksters.

While not hysterically funny, the film makes the most of its ever more unlikely situations and is nicely played by the four main leads. Fonda and Tierney combine well together as do Cregar and Byington. There are some amusing scenes, like when the young couple plod their way around a dance floor amongst some limbs-flying jitterbuggers, Fonda's "lucky" gambling streak at the casino and earlier when Fonda is distracted by Tierney in a bathing suit as he's trying to describe the dimensions of the boat he's seeking to buy.

The ending seems a bit contrived bringing all the main characters together again with Fonda improbably stepping out of character to get his girl in the style of Cagney, but at least it all ends happily ever after as there's little doubt that even the thwarted Cregar and Byington will continue undiminished on their merry way, indeed, in my opinion, an extra finishing scene showing them hooking up with another aspirant young shop girl to do their bidding could easily have been tagged on to keep the circle unbroken.

This wasn't the best screwball comedy I've seen and certainly Sturges and Hawks executed these farces a little more sharply and amusingly but this was still an engaging, pardon the pun, film to watch.

Gene Tierney wants "Rings on Her Fingers" in this 1942 comedy starring Henry Fonda, Laird Cregar and Spring Byington. Tierney is a shopgirl drafted by Byington and Warren to help them con rich men out of their money. One of their marks is Fonda, with whom Tierney falls in love. Problems arise, and that's putting it mildly.

Mamoulian loved scripts that contained characters with dual identities such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Mark of Zorro, so "Rings on Her Fingers" must have appealed to him. It has Tierney, a New York salesgirl posing as an heiress, Fonda, an accountant who at first gives the impression he's a rich man, Cregar, posing as a yacht owner, and Byington, posing as Tierney's wealthy mother.

I liked this charming comedy, but I have to take issue with calling it screwball. It's played too straight. Fonda creates a wonderful character - a sincere, caring person who wants to live life in the present and not live as others - lock up their money and, in so doing, lock up their lives. His internalized approach to acting did not lend itself to comedy. Tierney is gorgeous, and a good actress, but comedy wasn't her thing. Picture the airport scenes with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and you get the point.

Laird Cregar is wonderfully bombastic and funny as the conniver Warren - what a loss to filmdom that he died so young; and Spring Byington does a great job as his partner.

Henry Fonda never forgave Darryl F. Zanuck for forcing him into a seven-year contract in order to do The Grapes of Wrath; though Mamoulian was a great director, I think Fonda probably felt misused here. Opposite a pro like Stanwyck, he fared in comedy much better. Tierney is lovely, though.

Good film.